Every Race is an Adventure!

I was up late Sunday night, and it was cold and windy with 4 or 5 inches of new snow this morning, so I waited to run until noon. It was still cold and windy, but the roads were clear. I ran down 1600 N to 400 W, north on 400 W to the canal road, east and south on the muddy/snowy canal road, got off at the first opportunity and climbed east up a steep hill then wandered south to 400 E and 1600 N then west to home. I averaged 8:35/mi overall, running the last half mile or so at 7:52/mi, downhill, but into a pretty strong and cold headwind. It wasn't especially fast, but with the cold wind, mud, and hills mixed in, I felt good about pushing the entire 5.5 miles, and was not bothered at all by the right hip pain that hampered me on Saturday's run.

Larry and I ran 6 easy cold miles on the Lindon loop.

I ran the Orem library route solo this morning. I only averaged an 8:55/mi pace in the cold wind and snow. I'm glad I got out when I did. It started snowing part way into the run and now it's coming down pretty hard.

Same solo run as yesterday but I averaged 8:30/mi today instead of 8:55/mi. I didn't feel like I was pushing any harder. I think the faster pace was due to less cold and much less wind. It's still too cold for April. I'm looking forward to some spring-like weather.

Despite the wind, snow, and the cold I really enjoyed today's race.

I rode to/from the race with Larry and Jolene. I always enjoy being with them. Jolene ran the 5K and placed (as usual) in her AD. Larry and I met up with Wayne shortly before the race. Wayne and Larry decided to run the race as a training run. I felt pretty good and decided to race the race.

I met Tom and Terry shortly before the race started. They were shooting for 1:30, me for 1:40, so I knew I wouldn't be seeing them for long. I ran with them (probably faster than I should have) the first 1/2 mile or so and intentionally backed off as we started up the overpass. I gradually watched them pull away over the next few miles.

The other runners I saw along the way changed, me passing some, some passing me, but there were a few runners that stuck in my memory. The most useful to me was the woman in the yellow shirt who was 30 to 50 yards ahead of me from just after the start until about mile 11. She had a smooth, easy stride, ran the tangents well, and seemed to be maintaining a steady, maintainable pace very similar to mine. I used her as reference point. When I started feeling like I was slowing, I would draw encouragement from seeing her ahead running steadily and strongly, but not pulling away. She dropped her Gatorade at one aid station, and then stopped at the next one, and that's when I passed her. I felt like I'd lost my tow rope, so I decided to push even harder the last two miles. During this stretch I passed two young men with iPods and a man and woman running together. I remembered these runners passing me earlier in the race. It was exhilerating to finish strong.

Splits: 6:39, 14:27 (2 miles), 7:42, 7:38, 7:39, 15:11 (2 miles), 7:47, 7:44, 7:46, 7:54, 7:05, 0:39 (6:37/mi) = 1:38:11

I finished first in the 45-49 age division, but was apparently the only in my age division. I don't know if that is accurate. It seems hard to believe. I know there are a lot of 45-49 male runners in the area. I'll take the win anyway. Maybe they were all afraid of me...not likely...but I showed up and ran hard in the wind and cold, so I'll take the award.

UPDATE (OFFICIAL RESULTS): Time: 1:38:12 (7:30/mi), Overall place 60/417, Men 52/253, AD 1/15

I have to confess I feel better knowing I ran faster than 14 other men my age instead of working so hard only to finish first and last in my division. I was also pleased and surprised to see that I beat the 2nd place runner by 8 minutes. Still, Tom and Terry beat me by 7 and 10 minutes, so there is plenty of room for improvement.